


Fish & Brandy

by likelyvalentine (nokkakona)



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Banter, Insomnia, Javik The Fish Thief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 15:44:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12751299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nokkakona/pseuds/likelyvalentine
Summary: Javik barges in on Shepard in the middle of the night and discovers she hasn't been sleeping. He decides to help her- after all, he can't argue with someone incoherent from sleep deprivation. Short, banter-centric oneshot. Can be read as pre-relationship if desired.





	Fish & Brandy

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired in part by that one line of Javik's where he implies he's going to eat Shepard's fish...

_"Next time you decide to barge into my quarters like that, you'd better bring wine."_

When she had said it, she hadn't been serious. In fact, she had forgotten the words right up until this very moment, staring blearily up at the Prothean on her doorstep, fighting through the haze of sleeplessness to try to explain his next actions.

"Here is your alcohol." He stuffed the bottle into her hands and shouldered past her.

Shepard blinked. "My... hey!"

Javik ignored her and strode toward her fish tank, standing in front of it with his hands clasped behind his back.

"You put one finger in that tank and I'll shoot you." He eyed her. "Hey, those fish were expensive."

"So was the alcohol."

Shepard glanced at the bottle on the table, temporarily forgotten. "Hey... is that Serrice ice brandy?"

"I did not come to discuss drinks with you."

"Did you steal this?"

"Commander, I have concerns about the people you are allying yourself with."

"Oh, like the wine-thieving Prothean relic barging into my quarters at 0300 hours?"

"You should drink the alcohol. I believe it will make you easier to talk to."

"It's 0300 hours."

"So?"

"Weren't you just telling me that I shouldn't pay attention to what other people think?"

"Clearly I am the exception."

"Oh my God. You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Javik, I know you got your 50,000 years of beauty rest, but I've been running on a handful of hours since last week. If you're here to test me or teach me a lesson, it can wait until tomorrow." She placed her palms on his shoulders, careful to avoid his bare skin, and guided him back toward the door.

Javik reached up and wrapped his hand around her wrist before she could react. She braced herself, but instead of an influx of old memories, a warm sensation surged through her veins. A campfire under the sky of a binary star system, an old lamellar blanket around bare shoulders. A woman's hand held tightly, sharing childhood memories of empty fields and quiet moments. Hot liquid tingling in her throat, and the soft muffled sleepiness of alcohol.

It was all she could do to keep herself from curling up on the floor and passing out right then and there. Javik held her weight when she went slack and maneuvered her onto the bed.

"Did you just mind-drug me?" she managed to slur. "I'm filing a formal complaint."

Javik pulled the blanket out from under the mattress opposite her and folded her into it. "I'm sure the Prothean ministry will attend to that promptly."

Shepard moaned. Her head felt as if it had been filled with quicksand, and she was sinking further and further into it every second. Javik's footsteps began to recede, and the door slid open and then shut. But even through the fog, Shepard heard it- the pitter patter of a Prothean tip-toeing back down the stairs and toward her fish tank.

"Don't make me call Edi, Javik."

"... Good night, commander."

Shepard forced her eyes open as he stepped through the doorway this time, and didn't close them until she heard the ping of the elevator doors sliding shut. Finally, with the threat to her second batch of Thessian sunfish eliminated, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
